Cloud Discovery Services for Libraries

1. Cloud Discovery Services for Libraries 2009 Annual ASERL Membership Meeting

2. Agenda • 5 minsWelcome & Introductions -- John Burger • 20 minsOverview & Context of ‘Cloud’ Systems for Libraries Marshall Breeding • 20 minsInsights from User Study Data that led to development/functionalities of Summon – John Law • 20 minsReasons for Implementing Summon at GVSU, Reactions from Users, Other Lessons Learned along the way – Ron Berry • 20 minsReasons for Implementing WorldCat Local at USF, Reactions from Users, Other Lessons Learned along the way – Bill Garrison • 20 minsQ & A from ASERL members – Marshall Breeding, moderator

3. 2009 Annual ASERL Membership Meeting Overview and Context of Cloud Systems for Libraries Marshall Breeding Director for Innovative Technology and ResearchVanderbilt University Library http://www.librarytechnology.org/

4. What is Cloud Computing? • Highly abstracted model of computing • Displaces the need for local hardware and software • Provisioned on demand • Metered use of storage and computing cycles • Platform-as-a-service • Storage-as-a-service • Emerging model for library discovery and automation • Increasingly dubbed “Web-scale”

5. Crowded Landscape of Information Providers on the Web • Lots of non-library Web destinations deliver content to library patrons • Google Scholar • Amazon.com • Wikipedia • Ask.com • Do Library Web sites and catalogs meet the information needs of our users? • Do they attract their interest?

6. Libraries in Transition • Print > Electronic • Increasing emphasis on subscribed content, especially articles and databases • Strong emphasis on digitizing local collections • New generations of library users: • Millennial generation • Web savvy • PervasiveWeb 2.0 concepts

7. The Competition

8. Disjointed approach to information and service delivery • Silos Prevail • Books: Library OPAC (ILS module) • Articles: Aggregated content products, e-journal collections • OpenURL linking services • E-journal finding aids (Often managed by link resolver) • Local digital collections • ETDs, photos, rich media collections • Metasearch engines • All searched separately

9. More than the “library catalog” • More comprehensive information discovery environments • Primary search tool that extends beyond print resources • Digital resources cannot be an afterthought • Systems designed for e-content only are also problematic • Forcing users to use different interfaces depending on type of content becoming less tenable • Libraries working toward consolidated user environments that give equal footing to digital and print resources

10. Evolutionary Path • Bound handwritten catalogs • Card Catalogs • Library online catalogs – OPACs • Discovery interfaces • Web-scale discovery services

11. A simple vision Search: • A single point of entry to all the content and services offered by the library

12. Modernized Interface • Single search box • Query tools • Did you mean • Type-ahead • Relevance ranked results • Faceted navigation • Enhanced visual displays • Cover art • Summaries, reviews, • Recommendation services

13. Online Catalog vs. Discovery Layer • Discovery Layer • Modern interface elements • Scope: aims to address broad range of components that constitute library collections • Online Catalog • Interface conventions from an earlier Web era • Scope: Tied to the ILS and its content domain

14. Discovery Products

15. Decoupled from ILS

16. Decoupled from ILS

17. Discovery Interface Products • AquaBrowser • Ex Libris Primo • Innovative Interfaces: Encore • Serials Solutions: Summon (under development) • SirsiDynix Enterprise • The Library Corporation: LS2 PAC • VUFind (open source) • BiblioCommons • eXtensible Catalog (under development)

18. Social discovery • Tags, user-supplied ratings and reviews • Leverage social networking interactions to assist readers in identifying interesting materials: BiblioCommons • Leverage use data for a recommendation service of scholarly content based on link resolver data: Ex Libris bX service

19. Discovery product Trend • Initial products focused on technology • AquaBrowser, Endeca,Primo, Encore, VUfind • Mostly locally-installed software • Current phase focused on pre-populated indexes that aim to deliver Web-scale discovery • Summon (Serials Solutions) • WorldCat Local (OCLC) • EBSCO Discovery Service (EBSCO) • Primo Central

20. Beyond Federated search • Federated Search / Metasearch use real-time queries against multiple information targets • No centralized index – presentation of dynamic results • Shallow results -- only a few results initially fetched from each target • Difficult to calculate relevancy • Performance challenges

21. ILS Data Federated Search Digital Collections Search: ProQuest Search Results EBSCOhost … MLA Bibliography ABC-CLIO Real-time query and responses

22. ILS Data Discovery Interface Digital Collections Search: Local Index ProQuest Search Results EBSCOhost MetaSearch Engine … MLA Bibliography ABC-CLIO Real-time query and responses

23. ILS Data Web-scale Search Digital Collections Search: ProQuest EBSCOhost Search Results Consolidated Index … MLA Bibliography ABC-CLIO Pre-built harvesting and indexing

24. Beyond local discovery interfaces • Pre-populated indexes • Web-scale • Exploits the full depth and breadth of library collections • Beyond the bounds of the local library’s collection • Targets the universe of objective, vetted library content • Includes full-text indexing to the fullest extent possible

25. Web scale discovery • Indexing the full corpus of information available globally • Or at least major portions • Google aims to address all the world’s information • Not quite comprehensive – partial harvesting of any given resource • Discovery Layer Products for libraries aim to address all content collected by libraries: • Print • Remotely access electronic content: e-journals, e-books, databases, licensed and open access. • Local special collections: digital and print. • Addresses the comprehensive body of content held within library collections • Comprehensive, unified

26. Pre-populated discovery services • New-generation interface • Harvested local content • ILS metadata • Institutional repositories, ETDs, Digital Collection platforms • Vendor-supplied indexes of library content • E-journals, databases, e-books • Full-text and metadata corresponding to e-content subscriptions • Book collections beyond local library collections

27. Deep indexing • Entering post-metadata search era • Increasing opportunities to search the full contents • Google Library Print, Google Publisher, Open Content Alliance, government publications, etc. • High-quality metadata will improve search precision • Commercial search providers already offer “search inside the book” and searching across the full text of large book collections • Not currently available through most library search environments • Will be an important feature of projects such as HathiTrust • Deep search highly improved by high-quality metadata

28. Discovery / Library Business Automation • Now viewed as separate problem • Many interdependencies • Current model of feeding discovery systems from many underlying repositories • ILS / e-journal collections / collections of digital objects • Will models of resource management change to consolidate the repositories? • Realign Discovery and management?

29. Competing Models of Library Automation • Traditional Proprietary Commercial ILS • Millennium, Symphony, Polaris • Traditional Open Source ILS • Evergreen, Koha • Clean slate automation framework (SOA, enterprise-ready) • Ex Libris URM, OLE Project • Cloud-based automation system • WorldCat Local (+circ, acq, license management)

30. A new phase of library automation • Beyond selecting one brand from an assortment of similar products • Several conceptually diverse options • Companies and projects now competing on innovation